Page 185 - ... and to work, produces, in the hands of a skilful mechanic, the most beautiful effects of light and shade. These effects are rendered more striking, if, after smoothing the surface of the wood with a double-ironed plane, it is rubbed with a little sulphuric acid, and afterwards anointed with linseed oil.

Page 441 - Our outward life requires them not, Then wherefore had they birth? To minister delight to man, To beautify the earth; To whisper hope — to comfort man Whene'er his faith is dim; For whoso careth for the flowers Will care much more for Him!

Page 491 - Sir Joshua Reynolds used to say, 'If you would fix upon the best colour for your house, turn up a stone, or pluck up a handful of grass by the roots, and see what is the colour of the soil where the house is to stand, and let that be your choice.

Page 42 - Kamchatkadales say, would disorder the stomach. It is sometimes eaten fresh in soups and sauces, and then loses much of its intoxicating property : when steeped in the juice of the berries of Vaccinium uliginosum, its effects are those of strong wine.

Page 185 - Trees offering this disposition are rare, and do not exist in the proportion of one to a hundred. The serpentine direction of the fibre, which renders them difficult to split and to work, produces, in the hands of a skilful mechanic, the most beautiful effects of light and shade. These effects are rendered more striking if, after smoothing the surface of the wood with a double-ironed plane, it is rubbed with a little sulphuric acid, and then with linseed oil.

Page 218 - Mandarins, although small, were extremely gay, particularly during the early months of the year ; and, what was of more importance to me, contained a number of new plants of great beauty and interest. On entering one of the gardens on a fine morning in May, I was struck with a mass of yellow flowers which completely covered a distant part of the wall ; the colour was not a common yellow, but had something of buff in it, which gave the flowers a striking and uncommon appearance. I immediately ran...

Page 43 - ... had I beheld such enormous trunks, — they looked more like living rocks than trees ; for it was only on the pinnacle of their bare and naked bark that foliage could be discovered, and that at such a distance from the eye that the forms of the leaves could not be made out.

Page 538 - Religion, poetry, and history have all equally celebrated them. The Arabs of all sects entertain a traditional veneration for these trees. They attribute to them not only a vegetative power which enables them to live eternally, but also an intelligence which causes them to manifest signs of wisdom and foresight, similar to those of instinct and reason in man.